Use of paternal surname matters for the adolescent an affectation of her personality that configures a just reason for her substitution.- Constitutional newspaper

The plaintiff, acting on behalf of her daughter, requested the change of the last name of the latter in the terms provided by article 69 of the Civil and Commercial Code, replacing the last name paternal compound for the surname maternal compound surname.

He explained that the teenager has never resided with her father, who does not meet her emotional or material needs and with whom she does not maintain any link;Reason why she does not feel identified with her paternal surname, so she is socially presented with her maternal name, the one she even uses on social networks.

He added that, several years ago, his daughter has been raising his desire and his need - spiritual and mental - to formally carry the maternal last name, so he said that there are fair reasons to demand the change of surname, attentive to the sentimental burden thatproduces daily to carry an identification that is not conditioned with its personal history.

The Family Court of Tandil rejected the action, arguing that it did not prove the affectation of the adolescent's personality for the use of the paternal surname, so that the sufficient elements of judgment were not verified to have as configured the exception assumptions provided byArticle 69 of the Civil and Commercial Code.

Knowing the sentence in Alzada, the Chamber of Departmental Appeals for the fact that, although the change of name provided for in the mentioned article 69 discards as fair reasons any frivolous, inconsequential reason, that does not merge into facts that seriously aggravate material, moral or spiritual interestsof the subject that intends the modification, and does not tolerate the reasons of mere taste, pleasure or whim;This notion is not necessarily limited to issues of extreme gravity and imperative need, since it is also comprehensive of other reasons, as long as they are serious and founded.

In this regard, it estimates that the change of surname requested by the adolescent was not an untimely or motivated decision in a circumstantial anger or feeling, since it has been presented more than four years ago and identifies and identifies with the maternal last name, surnamewith whom his friends and colleagues know him, he uses at school and in his daily life, and with which he is released on social networks;And, also for years, she has talked with both parents about the possibility of formally changing her last name, replacing the paternal that she currently holds with the maternal name.

In this way, he argues that the decision is founded on the personal experiences of the adolescent, around the lack of frequent contact with her parent and the little interest and emotional support that she perceived from that one, which caused an intimate feelingof rejection and lack of identification with said paternal and an consequent construction of its subjectivity through the public and sustained use of the maternal surname.

He adds that, in the species, the opinion of the child or adolescent must be especially valuebe properly taken into account;specifying that, although knowing the child's opinion does not imply unconditionally accepting his desire if this can be detrimental to his best interest, it is required that his opinion be considered in the decision, for which it is essential that the judge carefully analyze the circumstances that circumstances that circumstances that circumstances that circumstances that circumstances that circumstances carefullyThey surround it and pond them..

In this order of reasoning, it leads that family processes have their own particularities, originated in the specialty of the subject that is ventilated in them, making a special link between procedural law and substantial law necessary, which translates into aflexibility of some traditional procedural criteria and principles.

Civil Court of Viña del Mar authorizes...

Likewise, it emphasizes that the new legal design related to the name in general, and to the surname of the children in particular, in addition to consecrating the principle of equality reflecting the obligatory gender perspective, expands personal autonomy, promoting a less tense articulation between interest among the interestindividual and family and public interest.

Therefore, it concludes that article 69 of the Civil and Commercial Code replaces the rigorous immutability with a more flexible stability rule, and thereby grows the possibility of dissociating the surname of the person of their affiliation and, even, of adding or suppressing surnames.

In short, he hosted the appeal deduced against the basic sentence and, instead, resulted in the paternal surname composed of the adolescent by the compound maternal last name, ordering the issuance of the trades, testimonies and notifications that resultnecessary to make this measure.

See full text of the sentence.